For most, Labor Day weekend is officially the last summer weekend. School is getting back in session. Vacations end and days get shorter. Attitudes change after Labor Day. Everyone’s back to work, and the next lengthy “holiday” is two months away. There’s lots of football. The pace of everyday life picks up following a summer slowdown.
This fall, things will again be more expensive than they were last year.
As a PD, I always treated the first day back after Labor Day as the beginning of a new “season” for our radio station. We used that same mindset going into a new year, too. If we had any changes or enhancements in mind, we prepped them and had them ready for the air that day after Labor Day. Sort of like television’s “new fall season” on the radio. At one station, we billed our events and new on-air benchmarks, etc., as “all part of our new fall season.”
This is a time that calls for a renewal and refresh. You’re giving your radio station a proverbial fresh coat of paint. Examine your imaging. Make sure it mirrors the “back to work and school” mindset in your market.
“#1 for New Country” and “Non-Stop, Commercial-Free” are all well and good, but what about addressing that fresh-start feeling that your audience will have as summer officially ends? It’s a new football season, locally and nationally. Fall concerts and festivals and local seasonal events are in full force. With that in mind, people will be careful with how they spend their entertainment dollars, due to the state of the economy. Capture this with your station’s imaging and social media marketing. Being topical always adds to your station’s personality, and your listeners will feel it.
No matter where they live, get your air staff on the same wavelength. As I have recommended, ensure your staff start the new year hitting the ground running. Whether local, voice-tracked, or syndicated, they should be ready to be a step ahead of your audience.
Make sure they’re aware of the shifts in audience attitudes with economic pressures and seasonal shifts, so their content will reflect that. Spend time with your staff, brainstorming ways to create the content that will help, entertain, inform, and strengthen the bond you have with your audience. Communicate with them!
Listeners will be in their cars on their commute to work or school again, so make sure you’re doing everything to give them an entertaining ride roundtrip.
Be a companion, not background. Know they are not hanging on every word and find creative, compelling ways to give them what they need and want to grab their attention and keep it. Radio is not the king of the car it used to be.
Have this in mind with your promotion strategy and digital presence (app, website, and socials). Include information for your listeners about free events. Help them stretch their dollar. Provide info for those festivals, concerts, and sporting events. Create a strong list of ideas with your station staff and capture the pulse of your audience.
The Day After Labor Day should be important in your station’s evolution every year. Time to freshen up!
